Home Office

Rescue Services

Peter Gibson: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department has a responsibility to support Mountain Rescue teams alongside the other emergency services.

Amanda Solloway: Mountain Rescue Teams in England and Wales currently receive no direct government funding. The Home Office currently has no plans to review this.

Home Office: Aviation

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much their Department has spent on air travel for (a) Ministers and (b) officials in (i) 2020, (ii) 2021 and (iii) 2022.

Amanda Solloway: The Home Office does not hold the information in the format requested. This is because we do not have separate codes or fields for Ministers’ and Officials’ travel in our management systems.However the Home Office does report expenditure on total official business travel (including domestic air travel) and domestic air travel separately in the Annual Report and Accounts, which includes both Ministers and Officials.Please refer to page 53 of the 2021-22 Annual Report and Accounts.Home_Office_ARA_21-22_Final_-_Gov.uk.pdf (publishing.service.gov.uk)

Home Office: Advertising

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much her Department spent on advertising in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Amanda Solloway: The Home Office does not publish the information sought to the level of granularity required and identifying spending on advertising specifically from our management systems can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Home Office: Public Relations

Mr Alistair Carmichael: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much the Home Office has spent on communications and public relations agencies in (a) 2019, (b) 2020, (c) 2021 and (d) 2022.

Amanda Solloway: The Home Office does not publish the information sought to the level of granularity required and identifying spending on communications and public relations specifically from our management systems can only be obtained at disproportionate cost.

Home Office: Legal Costs

Jon Trickett: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how much their Department and its associated agencies spent on legal disputes in (a) 2020, (b) 2021 and (c) 2022.

Amanda Solloway: The Department has interpreted a “legal dispute” to be a claim brought in a tribunal or court, either against or by the department. Spending on legal disputes can include a range of costs, including fees for external representation before a court or supporting the preparation of the litigation.The Department does not keep a central record of all of its spend on legal disputes and neither does it keep a record of such spending by its associated agencies. Accordingly, the Department considers the disproportionate cost threshold applies for the collection of this additional information.However, where the Department is represented by the Government Legal Department in legal proceedings before most Courts and Tribunals in England and Wales, it does have a record of the charges levied on it for those costs. These figures take into account:(a) that they are charges levied by the Government Legal Department for representing the Department in legal disputes during the relevant periods whenever the legal dispute may have arisen;(b) That the charges can be subject to retrospective changes;(c) The figures are inclusive of Value Added Tax where this is payable;(d) The figures do not include sums awarded in costs against the Department or sums awarded to the Department as a result of legal disputes.2020 - £35,616,8272021 - £37,286,7122022 (for the period 1 January – 30 June) - £18,634,689

Department of Health and Social Care

Cancer: Drugs

Dr Luke Evans: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of joint working between the (a) Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, (b) the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, (c) NHS England and (d) NHS Improvement in the context of supporting access for patients to products licenced through Project Orbis.

Maria Caulfield: We routinely work with system partners to assess the effectiveness of processes to support access to new medicines for National Health Service patients. The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) and NHS England ensure there is an integrated approach to enable access to new medicines, including those licensed through Project Orbis. NICE commits to publishing draft recommendations on new medicines approximately at the time of licensing, with final guidance within three months of licensing wherever possible. NHS England and NICE have also agreed principles to allow potential interim access ahead of NICE’s guidance where timely guidance is not possible, which has supported early access for a number of medicines licensed through Project Orbis.

Community Diagnostic Centres: Medical Equipment

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many and what proportion of the community diagnostic centres operating in England are equipped with diagnostic equipment purchased in the last (a) 12 months, (b) five years and (c) ten years.

Maria Caulfield: The information is not held centrally in the format requested.The majority of equipment for community diagnostic centres (CDCs) was purchased in the last 12 months with the launch of the programme in July 2021. However, some sites may have used existing equipment to increase capacity and reduce waiting times for diagnostic tests. NHS England plans to equip CDCs with new facilities, including those located on existing National Health Service estate, through purchasing new equipment rather than upgrading existing equipment.

Community Diagnostic Centres: Tomography

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, how many (a) CT, (b) MRI, (c) X-ray, and (d) PET machines his Department plans to purchase to support the expansion of community diagnostic centres in England.

Maria Caulfield: This information is not currently held in the format requested as the specification of services for future community diagnostic centres (CDCs) has not yet been confirmed. Business cases for the next cohort of CDCs are being finalised and decisions on the procurement of computerised tomography, magnetic resonance imaging and X-ray scanners will be made following the outcome of this process.Positron emission tomography machines are not used within CDCs.

Community Diagnostic Centres: Medical Equipment

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department is taking steps to upgrade equipment in community diagnostic centres.

Maria Caulfield: Community diagnostic centres (CDCs) were launched in July 2021 with the majority of locations provided with new equipment. NHS England continues to purchase new equipment for each CDC as it is established to ensure facilities are digitally connected across integrated care systems.

Department for International Trade

Trade Agreements: Human Rights and Religious Discrimination

Munira Wilson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what assessment she has made of (a) the human rights records and (b) any potential reports of religious persecution in countries with which the UK is pursuing a trade agreement before entering negotiations.

Penny Mordaunt: The UK assesses and considers appropriate action in response to egregious human rights violations and abuses globally, and this goes much wider than considering trade alone, drawing on the wider tools and levers at our disposal. Our strong economic relationships with trading partners allow the Government to have open discussions on a range of difficult issues, including human rights and religious freedom.